Update from Principal and Chief Executive, Yultan Mellor

From Friday 20 March 2020 our campus closed for face-to-face activity. However, we have continued to support our students remotely, to develop new courses to meet regional and national need, and to advise potential students and take applications for future courses too. Our whole team is focused on ensuring the success of our students and preparing for our return on to campus.

We will continue to follow government guidelines to work together to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

Our students have been very supportive, saying they can’t wait to return to college, whilst recognising that this temporary campus closure is needed to ensure everyone remains safe. We are very much looking forward to seeing them all again soon.

We are currently planning a series of virtual open days to engage with potential new and existing students who are wanting to come to the college to study and progress. Information about these will be published on our website and social media channels, or you can sign up to our newsletter to learn more here.

Open days will include information about our Maths and English programmes, Pre-Access courses, Access to Higher Education programmes in Humanities & Social Studies, Computing, and Healthcare Professions as well as our Teacher Education programmes, all planned to start in September. We are also currently developing a whole range of new courses too – more details to be announced soon.

We are conscious that during these challenging times, there is an increasing demand for adult learning. In response, we are developing a series of virtual short courses focused on English, Maths and Digital skills, Employability and Health & Wellbeing.

In the meantime, if you would like to find out more about Northern College or our future courses please contact us on 01226 776000 or via the website here.

To show our appreciation and to help our NHS heroes, we have partnered with Thomas Franks to re-open our catering facilities to prepare and distribute fresh food parcels, see news article here. We are delighted that we’ve been able to support frontline workers and thank them for everything they are doing. We are also flooding our fabulous college building with blue light every evening after dusk, to say thank you to the NHS and all frontline workers who are keeping our country going.

We are also continuing to support our communities, including supporting adults in recovery to come together remotely to progress their learning during Covid-19 restrictions, and supporting Syrian refugees with ESOL learning.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our students, staff and stakeholders for their continued support. We will post regular updates, and look forward to being with you all again soon.

From Friday 20 March 2020, like other colleges, Northern College will be closed for face-to-face activity. Staff will be operating remotely instead.

This follows recent advice from Public Health England and Government guidance about social distancing.

The welfare of our staff and students is paramount. We have around 4,000 learners a year, as a residential college. Therefore, it is important that we consider how we are working to keep everyone safe.

Can I still apply for a course?

We are operating as usual, continuing to take applications and you can apply over the phone or online. Your options are:

Telephone 01226 776 000 where our reception team, working remotely, will be there to answer your call. They can also arrange a telephone appointment with our student services team.

You can also search for and apply for a course online via our website – This is easy to do and will help us to process your application quickly.

Our reception team, alongside all our staff and tutors, will all be more than happy to help.

What happens next?

We are closely monitoring the situation as it continues to evolve. Further updates will be posted here on the website. Please also check our Facebook and Twitter page for any updates. If you have any questions, please email courses@northern.ac.uk

Student Support

The Northern College for Residential Adult Education Ltd is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales with company number 1339524. Registered charity number 507245 – VAT Registration No: 183234078. Registered office: The Northern College, Wentworth Castle, Stainborough, Barnsley, S75 3ET. Northern College is not responsible for the content of external sites. Data Protection Notice